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We ran hard, and we ran long. We ran a campaign of which everyone should be proud. I salute my opponent on his well-deserved victory, and . . . .

Pfffffft. Forget all that nonsense. The FOSS Force Best Personal FOSS or Linux Blog Contest is over for 2013, and Alien Pastures has won. Good call, voters, and congratulations Eric Hameleers. Honestly, it was an honor to make the finals — twice in my case, with this blog and Larry the CrunchBang Guy — and we’ll see if either (or both) of us can do better in 2014.

What’s more important is I had a blast “campaigning” to try to win the poll. I’m sorry if some of you were put off by my asking for you to vote for me, but it was a lot of fun, and it was a pleasure introducing folks to FOSS Force, if they weren’t already aware of it.

Yet what’s most important, when all is said and done, is that FOSS Force did all of us on the poll, starting from the beginning and through two rounds to the finals, a monumental favor in giving us a lot more exposure than we would normally get.

So thanks for that, FOSS Force. Also, thanks for the FOSS news coverage and commentary you provide on your site.

Like the rest of the group on the ballot, I don’t get paid to do this. This commentary is part of my personal commitment to promoting both Free/Open Source Software in general, as I do in this blog, and promoting my distro of choice in the Larry the CrunchBang Guy blog. Sure, I’d like to be able to make a living writing this type of commentary for an on-line publication, but I don’t (actually, for those of you who don’t already know. I’m a “print guy” — a wire news editor at the Santa Cruz Sentinel newspaper in Santa Cruz, California).

None of us you voted for on this poll earn their keep writing about FOSS. Yet it doesn’t make our blogs any less important than those who do. My hope, as I am sure is one I share with the rest of the candidates, is that you were able to get a new perspective and, heck, find a new source or two (or three) of news and commentary going forward.

This blog, and all other blogs by Larry the Free Software Guy, Larry the CrunchBang Guy and Larry Cafiero, are licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs CC BY-NC-ND license. In short, this license allows others to download this work and share it with others as long as they credit me as the author, but others can’t change it in any way or use it commercially.

(Larry Cafiero is one of the founders of the Lindependence Project and develops business software at Redwood Digital Research, a consultancy that provides FOSS solutions in the small business and home office environment.)

[First things first: Some consider today the 22nd “birthday” of the Linux kernel, or at least the anniversary of the legendary e-mail from that Linus guy holed up in his room somewhere in Helsinki. What started with that announcement, augmented by subsequent kernels coupled with various GNU tools added to the mix over time, brings you today to the operating system most, if not all, of you are using right now. So feel free to take some time to keep this in mind today.]

While much of the FOSS world over the past few weeks was either spellbound or insulted by a doomed-to-fail crowdfunding campaign by a large company for a concept smartphone/computer combo, a significant event took place earlier this month that, for all intents and purposes, flew under the radar.

That may have been by design, for reasons I’ll get into later. But various birds-of-a-blue-feather flew in to Charleston, South Carolina, a few weekends ago for Fedora Flock.

For the last eight years, Fedora users and developers have gathered at the Fedora Users and Developers conference, or FUDCon. As an aside, this acronym always grated on my nerves — I get the concept of Con = anti, thus the anti-FUD, but I always thought it sounded goofy.

They’ve taken the concept of gathering together to uplift FOSS a step further at Fedora. Flock is essentially FUDCon 2.0, a brand new conference where Fedora contributors can come together, discuss new ideas, work to make those ideas a reality, and continue to promote the core values of the Fedora community: Freedom, Friends, Features, and First. But in this manifestation of the event, Flock opened up not only to its own community, but also opened up to a growing open hardware community in an effort to create better things together.

Clearly, a gathering of this magnitude only helps to promote FOSS development which in turn helps the wider FOSS community when the results of its development are readily available for use. In addition, the face-to-face aspect should never be discounted, and there’s clearly much in the way of value when you can talk to a team member in person rather than through the ether of an IRC “developer conference.”

That’s where Fedora’s coolness comes in; a cool that’s always been there, but one that should be getting the recognition it deserves.

One of the telling aspects about the increasing coolness of Fedora (and one that made me regret not being in attendance) was this tweet, from Michael DeHaan (the retweet arrow, of course, is mine):

As I mentioned earlier, how did this happen to fly under the proverbial radar?

What used to drive me up the wall and across the ceiling when I was a Fedora Ambassador years ago was the fact that Fedora has never trumpeted its accomplishments as much as it could; in complete contrast to the me-first, us-uber-alles, history-rewriting distro with too many of the same vowel in its name. My guess is that it’s not ultimately important to Fedora to self-promote, but rather it seems what’s important to Fedora is to get things done.

So Flock was promoted within the Fedora community, and with a round of various reports on social media and a couple of stories in the FOSS press, that was the amount of the publicity.

But the real story was that work got done — important work, and work that will benefit everyone across the FOSS spectrum and across software-to-hardware boundaries.

And that, more than anything, is the ultimate in cool.

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Well, because I mentioned, at least indirectly, Ubuntu Edge at the beginning, it is my sworn duty to post this. Now that many of you are getting your money back from the failed Ubuntu Edge campaign, why not give a donation to a project that really makes a difference? Give instead to:

Reglue (especially Reglue, which is creating a new generation of FOSS users as you read this sentence)

Partimus (bringing Linux boxes to classrooms in the San Francisco Bay Area, or any other project like it)

One more time, with feeling: The final round of FOSS Force’s Best Personal Linux and FOSS Blog poll ends tomorrow. So, if you haven’t done so already and are so inclined, vote here. It’s an honor to be in such great company on this ballot, and I hope when comparing blogs you’ll find this one to be worthy of your vote. Thanks.

This blog, and all other blogs by Larry the Free Software Guy, Larry the CrunchBang Guy and Larry Cafiero, are licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs CC BY-NC-ND license. In short, this license allows others to download this work and share it with others as long as they credit me as the author, but others can’t change it in any way or use it commercially.

(Larry Cafiero is one of the founders of the Lindependence Project and develops business software at Redwood Digital Research, a consultancy that provides FOSS solutions in the small business and home office environment.)

There are few more likeable people in the FOSS realm than Joe Brockmeier. That’s probably the mildest of accolades, of course, that Zonker deserves; a wealth of accolades tied to a stellar career in various FOSS projects as well as in FOSS journalism.

This morning, Red Hat scored. On a brief note on his personal blog, Joe makes the announcement that he gets his own personal chapeau rouge after joining the folks in Raleigh.

Friendly reminder: The second round of FOSS Force’s Best Personal Linux and FOSS Blog poll ends today, with the final round starting once the votes are tallied. So, if you have a minute or two to spare and are so inclined, vote here. While I’d like to win, truly the best blog on the ballot is Akkana Peck’s Shallow Thoughts, but since you have two votes in this round, I’d be grateful for one of ’em. Thanks.

This blog, and all other blogs by Larry the Free Software Guy, Larry the CrunchBang Guy and Larry Cafiero, are licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs CC BY-NC-ND license. In short, this license allows others to download this work and share it with others as long as they credit me as the author, but others can’t change it in any way or use it commercially.

(Larry Cafiero is one of the founders of the Lindependence Project and develops business software at Redwood Digital Research, a consultancy that provides FOSS solutions in the small business and home office environment.)

If you have been reading this blog over the past few weeks, you know that FOSS Force is hosting a poll in which I am a candidate. FOSS Force, which provides news and commentary on all things Free/Open Source, is seeking out the Best Personal Linux or FOSS Blog — “personal” is the key word here — and there are some great blogs that deserve promotion.

Sure, I’d like to win (and I’d challenge any of the other candidates to state otherwise), but there’s a much bigger picture involved; a much greater good in play with this poll.

It is this: All of us on the second round of the ballot owe a huge debt of gratitude to FOSS Force for putting our personal Linux/FOSS blogs out there where folks can read them, giving us exposure that we may not normally get in the course of writing our blogs for love of the game, so to speak.

So, if you have a minute or two to spare and are so inclined, vote here. This round ends on Monday, and you can vote for up to two blogs. The final round, starting Monday, is a one-vote affair.

Also, I’d like to request that you take the time to read some of the blogs which advanced to this round. All of them are outstanding. In fact, I had no idea Eric Hameleers’ Alien Pastures existed until this poll, and I think it’s great — one I’m definitely going to keep reading going forward.

Others include:

Matthew Garrett’s blog: Matthew Garrett should probably win by virtue of the fact that he’s single-handedly done so much to help us overcome the UEFI hurdle.

Shallow Thoughts: At the risk of embarassing her, Akkana Peck is arguably the smartest person in the FOSS realm, and her blog has a wide range of observations and answers.

Blog of Helios: My good friend Ken Starks uses folksy prose and homespun wit to talk about the day-to-day workings of the REGLUE Project, which puts Linux boxes and laptops in the hands of underprivileged kids in Austin, as well as taking on some of the wider Linux/FOSS issues of the day.

Benjamin Kerensa’s blog: Straight out of Portland, these “sporadic ramblings of a beautiful mind” are usually filled with the latest info on Firefox and Ubuntu news and commentary.

Jim’s 2011: Yeah, it’s 2013, but my fellow CrunchBang user James Eriksen, who bills himself as “The Tech Guy at Office Depot” in North Richland, Texas, has a lot of interesting and offbeat observations.

Robert Pogson’s blog: Perhaps the most prolific blogger in the group who clearly puts everyone to shame in the output department, Mr. Pogson’s blog holds a wealth of information.

Take a look at these and others before voting. Since you’re here, you already know what this blog is like — it’s a lot like its CrunchBang doppelganger, Larry the CrunchBang Guy.

Vote for the best ones and hopefully we’ll see you in the next round.

And thank you again, FOSS Force.

This blog, and all other blogs by Larry the Free Software Guy, Larry the CrunchBang Guy and Larry Cafiero, are licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs CC BY-NC-ND license. In short, this license allows others to download this work and share it with others as long as they credit me as the author, but others can’t change it in any way or use it commercially.

(Larry Cafiero is one of the founders of the Lindependence Project and develops business software at Redwood Digital Research, a consultancy that provides FOSS solutions in the small business and home office environment.)

First things first: I actually have a smartphone that, well, isn’t exactly used to its full intelligent potential. It’s old — an HTC G2 hand-me-down running Android — and it does for me only what a phone is supposed to do: Ring when there’s a call, stay connected while I’m talking (for the most part) and disconnect when I’m finished.

It’s a fairly feature-stocked phone. I could take pictures of, say, cats or what I’m eating and post them on social media, but I don’t.

You’re welcome.

Something that has been lost in the tsunami of Ubuntu Edge hype over the past several weeks is that an actual working smartphone with a FOSS-based OS will soon be available for about 10 percent of what you may have already paid for Canonical’s someday-to-be-produced-maybe product.

On Monday, Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols reported on ZDNet that a phone company called ZTE is making available a Firefox OS-based phone, which is supposed to be for sale on the company’s eBay store in the US for $80.

[However a visit to the ZTE U.S. eBay store has the phone up to just over $162 in bidding, so I am not sure who is right here.]

Regardless of what the real price is, I understand that it’s apples and oranges to compare the two. The ZTE is just a smartphone with Firefox OS, while the Ubuntu Edge concept, should it ever go into production, will be a computer that also acts like a phone.

Still, I’m not sold on the “revolutionary” aspect of Ubuntu Edge. I’m not sure how revolutionary it is to have your entire digital life on a device you can hold in your hand and, by accident, easily drop into a toilet; or as a news colleague did recently, drop her device irretrievably into a deep lake high in the Sierra Nevada.

I’m not convinced that spending $800 — OK, to be fair, marked down to $675 — on a not-yet-existing computer/phone that I stand a good chance of losing is prudent. But I would be willing to support Firefox OS and buy a ready-for-prime-time $80 smartphone — heck, even if it’s really $160.

We’ll have to see how this pans out.

Hey, Ubuntu Edge was mentioned again: This blog mentioned Ubuntu Edge and, of course, you know the drill by now.

Want to give some money to projects that really make a difference? Give instead to:

Reglue (especially Reglue, which is creating a new generation of FOSS users as you read this sentence)

Partimus (bringing Linux boxes to classrooms in the San Francisco Bay Area, or any other project like it)

This blog, and all other blogs by Larry the Free Software Guy, Larry the CrunchBang Guy and Larry Cafiero, are licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs CC BY-NC-ND license. In short, this license allows others to download this work and share it with others as long as they credit me as the author, but others can’t change it in any way or use it commercially.

(Larry Cafiero is one of the founders of the Lindependence Project and develops business software at Redwood Digital Research, a consultancy that provides FOSS solutions in the small business and home office environment.)

Yep, I know we’re only a day removed from Sunday, but there are a couple of things on the radar that deserve addressing today, a beautiful Monday on which I don’t have to work.

Like . . .

Missing the mark: Nine days left, $22 million and change to go. So it doesn’t look like the Ubuntu Edge campaign will make its goal next week, but Mark Shuttleworth is not deterred, claiming victory in a wide assortment of articles that are easily available across the tech news realm. Yet more importantly, and probably more telling, is a commentary by Fabian Scherschel — a European journalist/magazine editor who can be heard weekly on Linux Outlaws — which speaks to the issue so well, it is something I wish I had written. Take a few minutes to read Fab’s analysis — I’ll wait.

But after you’re done with Fab’s article . . . .

The polls are open: Vote early and often — Foss Force is into its second round of polling for their Best Personal Linux or FOSS Blog Poll, and round two ends Monday, August 19. Thankfully, I made the first round, and my doppelganger on the Debian/CrunchBang side, Larry the CrunchBang Guy, also made it to the 19 candidates on the list.

The list of blogs that made the 19 finalists are outstanding and I’m honored to be in this group. To say the least, I could easily vote for many of these over my own with a clear conscience — Benjamin Kerensa’s blog or Matthew Garrett’s blog for starters — and my good friend Ken Starks’ Blog of Helios has been a fantastic read for years. My suggestion is to read ’em all before you vote.

Anyway, vote for two in this round. The next round — the finals — are going to be a one-vote affair starting next Monday.

A huge debt of gratitude is owed to FOSS Force for hosting this poll on behalf of those of us who blog for the love of FOSS and blogging, as opposed to picking up a paycheck for it (though, truth be told, many — me included, especially me — would gladly do it for a check). The poll is giving all of us on the ballot a huge amount of exposure, and I think I speak for all of the candidates when I say, “thank you!”

Oh, before I forget: This blog mentioned Ubuntu Edge and, of course, it’s time for the windup and the pitch.

Want to give some money to projects that really make a difference? Give instead to:

Reglue (especially Reglue, which is creating a new generation of FOSS users as you read this sentence)

Partimus (bringing Linux boxes to classrooms in the San Francisco Bay Area, or any other project like it)

This blog, and all other blogs by Larry the Free Software Guy, Larry the CrunchBang Guy and Larry Cafiero, are licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs CC BY-NC-ND license. In short, this license allows others to download this work and share it with others as long as they credit me as the author, but others can’t change it in any way or use it commercially.

(Larry Cafiero is one of the founders of the Lindependence Project and develops business software at Redwood Digital Research, a consultancy that provides FOSS solutions in the small business and home office environment.)

It’s getting late in the game and the team you’re rooting for is down by a significant margin. As a San Francisco Giants fan, this season I know that feeling all too well. With a week and a half left in Canonical’s Indiegogo campaign, we’re now starting to see posts on social media like this one on Google+ that starts out: “For the sake of the linux community, and the future of open source hardware projects, please help Ubuntu Edge become real.”

With 11 days left and with the total so far at the mid-$9 million level, it appears it’s going to take either a “Hail Mary” pass by someone with mile-deep pockets or a room full of Michael Bloombergs with cash-filled briefcases to make the $32 million goal originally sought by Canonical. Still, $9 million plus — or whatever Canonical ends up with after the deadline — is nothing to sneeze at, and we trust that it will be put to good use when it comes to developing Ubuntu Edge.

[Edit: I know the Indiegogo campaign is set up so that if Canonical doesn’t make the goal, then they don’t get the money. I would like to think, however, that if people are that serious about putting up money and/or ordering hardware, they should be able to do so and that Canonical should take this into account going forward.]

By a number of metrics, though, the Ubuntu Edge campaign is a short-term success by a wide margin, no matter what the final tally show 11 days from now.

But long-term success? Let’s see how — or even if — Canonical delivers on Ubuntu Edge.

Meanwhile, back at Google+ . . . Aaron Seigo, in his normally straightforward and reasonable manner borne of an eloquence and wisdom that make him one of the true leaders of FOSS, weighs in with some comments in this thread.

Since he says this far better than I would, I’ll let Aaron drive here. He says in his first comment:

“(… someone mentioned me, so here I come :)

“Yes, open hardware is very hard; just getting properly open software on consumer grade electronics that you can manufacturer your own devices with is not easy. We’re finally there with the Vivaldi tablet we’ve been working on for a year now; we’re working out the last Q/A issues on the factory lines (so many parts that have to go together just perfectly), but I can definitely tell you that it is not easy.

“Due to this, I respect that Canonical has decided to take on such a project.

“The biggest concern I have is exactly what the +Mehdi Zakaria Benadel alludes to in his original post:

“Some people have become convinced that the Edge is critical to the future of open hardware, and so if the funding fails to materialize they may take this is a signal that Free software and open consumer electronics just aren’t meant to be.

“Thankfully, that is not the case. Canonical is not all of Linux or Free software; Ubuntu is not all of Linux or Free software. Even if Canonical does not succeed in this, others will persist on and we will succeed.

“If the Edge succeeds then we can rejoice together. At this point that looks unlikely, however. If it does not succeed then we simply need to move on and not let one failure by one company convince us that the sky has fallen in.

“Companies and projects fail all the time, that’s just how it is. Fortunately enough also succeed to keep progress moving. This is true not only in Free software, but all areas of effort in this world.

“This is also why it is so important that we do not somehow become deluded into thinking that the future of Free software rests on the shoulder of Canonical or Ubuntu. We need to put our eggs in multiple baskets and build no single points of failure in our community, or in our minds.

“Regardless of how this pans out, everyone will learn a lot from it.﻿”

Exactly, Aaron.

Eleven days from now, the Indiegogo campaign will wrap up and the final tally will be announced 12 days hence. Chances are that it will not be $32 million. Regardless of how much is collected, it will be, at best, something that Canonical can build on and, again, the wider FOSS world surely shares the hope that it is something on which Canonical follows through.

What it won’t be is the beginning of the end for the FOSS paradigm, which will continue to thrive regardless of what happens with Ubuntu Edge.

So cue up the musical “Annie” and enjoy your Sunday.

Oh, before I forget: This blog mentioned Ubuntu Edge and, of course, it’s time for the windup and the pitch.

Want to give some money to projects that really make a difference? Give instead to:

Reglue (especially Reglue, which is creating a new generation of FOSS users as you read this sentence)

Partimus (bringing Linux boxes to classrooms in the San Francisco Bay Area, or any other project like it)

[Blogger’s Note: FOSS Force, which provides news and commentary on all things Free/Open Source, currently has a poll running to rank the Best Personal Linux or FOSS Blog, in which they include Larry the Free Software Guy. All the blogs are excellent, but I shamelessly admit that this is an appeal to vote for me. So if you like this blog, use one of your two first-round votes — yes, you have two votes to vote for two blogs (not two of the same one) — to vote for Larry the Free Software Guy. If you don’t like this blog, cast your votes for two of the others: I’d vote for Ken Starks’ Blog of Helios or write in Jim Eriksen’s Jim’s 2011 blog at http://jims2011.blogspot.com (write-ins must be accompanied by the URL). And whomever you choose in the privacy of the digital voting booth, thank you for voting!]

This blog, and all other blogs by Larry the Free Software Guy, Larry the CrunchBang Guy and Larry Cafiero, are licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs CC BY-NC-ND license. In short, this license allows others to download this work and share it with others as long as they credit me as the author, but others can’t change it in any way or use it commercially.

(Larry Cafiero is one of the founders of the Lindependence Project and develops business software at Redwood Digital Research, a consultancy that provides FOSS solutions in the small business and home office environment.)